Pre-Podiatry

About the Profession

Podiatry is the branch of medicine devoted to the study of human movement with treatment of the diseases, injuries or disorders of the foot and ankle as the primary focus. Applicants complete requirements similar to those for medical school. Average GPAs for admission are in the 3.1-3.3+ range for overall GPA and in the sciences. The MCAT or another standardize test is typically required. (See note about the MCAT under “Pre-Medicine” link).

There are nine schools of podiatric medicine, all of which belong to the American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine (AACPM). The member schools participate in a centralized application service sponsored by AACPM. All the schools are private and the one in New York State is the NY College of Podiatric Medicine located in Manhattan.

Your Record

From the time you begin college, you are assembling a complete dossier with which to apply to these professional schools. Each of the requirements is a part of the whole. For Podiatry schools your record will include:

Course Requirements

Start planning as a freshman to meet the following course requirements: A minimum of one year each of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biology, and Physics, all with a year of lab; one year of English; and one year of Math is recommended. Below are the UB courses which we recommend you take in order to meet these requirements:

SOC 322 (SOC 101 is recommended but not required before taking SOC 322)

Additional course options are available in SOC, APY, PHI, AAS, and PUB. See a prehealth advisor for more information.

3 credits

Statistics (Highly Recommended and on MCAT)

STA 119 or PSY 207 or STA 427

4 credits

*Consult with a prehealth advisor regarding additional lab requirements if taking a Physics sequence which includes only one lab.

ONLINE PREREQUISITE COURSES, INCLUDING ENGLISH, ARE STRONGLY DISCOURAGED AS MANY PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS WILL NOT ACCEPT THEM.

Check with individual schools for additional requirements.

MCAT 2015 and beyond: “The additional content for MCAT questions is taught at most colleges and universities in one-semester introductory psychology and one-semester introductory sociology courses. Again, test questions will ask examinees to use knowledge of introductory psychology and sociology concepts to demonstrate their scientific inquiry and reasoning, research methods, and statistics skills.”